#sga headcanon

[the-mushroom-faerie]

less angsty post storm headcanon - whenever Rodney gets hit with the I Don't Wanna he tells Elizabeth that it "isn't jiving with his walkabout" and she understands and assigns whatever it is to another scientist

#peer reviewed post #i sent it to stick and she had a moment lol #stargate #stargate atlantis #rodney mckay #dr elizabeth weir #sga the storm #sga headcanon

[sga-owns-my-soul]

Everyone (lovingly I assume) refers to Ronon as a caveman, but I think from his perspective, the Tauri aren't as technologically advanced as Sateda was before it was culled. It's not really noticeable in Atlantis, but I think he'd notice it when he traveled outside of the SGC for John's dad's funeral.

Earth isn't too far off, though. I think Earth to Sateda would be like how Daniel described Kelowna being around the same point as Earth was in the 1940s. Several decades, or even a century or so behind technologically.

Knowing Ronon, he probably doesn't give a shit. Plus, living outside for 7 years does give a person caveman tendencies.

anon i'm so glad you sent this because i've actually had so many thoughts about how in a lot of ways sateda was way more advanced than earth and now i have an excuse to talk about it

i think in some ways earth was a bit more advanced than sateda (we never really see any sort of automated vehicles, and i think that's bc satedans didn't see the value in investing in that sort of technology) i do however think sateda was DRASTICALLY more advanced in both weapons and medicine, which makes sense- when the biggest threat to your society is the wraith, investing in weapons and health care makes a lot of sense. the stronger your weapons and the healthier your people, the better chance you have at fighting back

i also just think the satedans were more advanced culturally/emotionally. ronon spent seven years on the run from the wraith and he's still more emotionally intelligent than 2/3 of the atlantis expedition. that kind of torture (because being hunted for sport is, imo, a form of torture) and extreme isolation would make anyone clinically insane, but ronon's pretty damn fucking normal. he eats with his hands and isn't the most talkative at first, but that's really the only indication that ronon has been living completely uncivilized for almost a decade. if you took anyone from earth and put them through that, it would take a hell of a lot more than a few weeks of a hot meal and a safe bed to remind them how to be a person

idk where i'm even fully going with this honestly it has been a long day but i just have a lot of thoughts about ronon and sateda and i'm forever mad they didn't give us more about satedan culture (or athosian culture tbh. we learn more about the fucking genii than we do the athosians, which is a crime)

#anon this is a beautiful idea and an amazing concept #i love it #asks #headcanons #ronon dex #sateda #sga #stargate atlantis

[texasdreamer01]

Atlantis Expedition: Science Division Departments

"Many of the scientists on Atlantis are organised into departments, each with their own department head. Dr. Rodney McKay was head of the Science and Research Division which most likely meant he was in charge of all of the science departments. Dr. Radek Zelenka was also the head of his own department. The various science departments on Atlantis are:

> Physics

 » Astrophysics

> Biology

 » Microbiology

 » Astrobiology

> Oceanography

> Botany

> Medicine

> Anthropology

(SGA: "Remnants", "Grace Under Pressure", "Suspicion")"

From <https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Atlantis_expedition#Departments>

---

As I'm working my way through worldbuilding headcanons on the expedition, I figured I ought to start with the science division first. Above is my starting point: the canonical information at hand, to flesh out and give it some real-world reliability.

When I looked at it again, I realized it was, to put it politely, ill-thought-out crap that was only looked upon when the writers needed some random scientist around for episode material.

So, what considerations would an expedition like this actually need to take into account when hiring people?

At the very bare bones of it is "how many people can I fit through a wormhole in twenty or twenty-five minutes, plus supplies?". I went back and forth, prevaricated for a bit, and settled on 200 people if you really want to hoof it.

(Why 20-25 minutes? It's SGC's first stable-ish wormhole to another galaxy that's powered by a ZPM. They don't even know how much of a success that would be, or if they're just shoving people into a glorified shredder. Gotta pick and choose who you're maybe putting through the billion-dollar shredder. Y'know. Just in case.)

My initial rough estimations were about an even split between scientific and military personnel, which I kept on hand as napkin math to sanity check myself. This would be approximately 150 scientists.

What departments would there be, and how would it be divided? Who makes the priorities, and why?

The canon data is a mess, and as I worked through things, canon kept getting folded and refolded into different configurations because there's two competing priorities: the IOA/SGC, and Rodney's approach to pragmatism.

What was everyone expecting to see on the other side of that wormhole? Definitely not a city ship sunk into the ground of an ocean, and definitely not isolated from others (the Athosians were an unexpected godsend that kicked off the reason to have a plot in the first place). Whatever the IOA or SGC had in mind will quickly get thrown out the window, but needs must, and the departments were likely arranged long before the shipping manifest was decided.

I poked around the uniforms, because everyone is colour-coded, and there's five sections:

> Red (civilian, leader) - Worn by Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Teyla Emmagan, Colonel Samantha Carter and Richard Woolsey.

> Blue/dark blue or purple (scientist) - Worn by Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay and Dr. Radek Zelenka.

> Yellow (medical) - Worn by Dr. Carson Beckett and Dr. Jennifer Keller.

> Black (military) - Worn by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Major Evan Lorne.

> Green (technician) - Worn by Chuck and Amelia Banks.

This information is listed in both the "List of Atlantis personnel" and "Atlantis expedition uniform" pages on SGCommand.

Thus far that gets me two and a half departments in my hand: Scientist, Medical, and Technician (that's the half).

What would the SGC and IOA want the expedition to prioritize? Technology, and lots of it. This means that, probably, there's going to be more engineers than you can shake a stick at, and not a lot of pure sciences. Remember, it cost money to fire up the gate, and flinging people into another galaxy is an unfathomable amount of (international, at this point) taxpayer funds. You're going to want as much applied science as possible, and as much overlap in disciplines as possible.

(Unfortunately this does leave little room for error, so anyone that dies is capable of leaving a hole in potential research.)

Therefore, how would a top-down order of technological research look like? My assumption was this:

> Engineering of the city of Atlantis itself

 » ZPMs, auxiliary and/or complementary power sources

 » Materials and material manufacturing

 » Design specs of different technologies (jumpers, yes, but also anti-grav, shields, climate controls)

> Biological sciences

 » ATA gene therapies

 » Whatever the Ancients were working on regarding ascension

  ⇛ Helpful with the Ori once Atlantis is informed of that issue

To wit, neither addendum on the biological sciences bullet point is pertinent at the time of department formation, as Carson invented the ATA gene therapy after arriving in Atlantis, and the Ori weren't an issue for a similar reason.

Ergo, all non-biological engineering fields would have had higher billing, and thus more of them hired. The only exception would be medical, and I'm sure the SGC had the forethought to bully the IOA into its relevancy and make sure that department was as fully-stocked as they could manage.

Now what about practical considerations? Plans are nice and all, but rarely survive contact with reality, so some adjustment might be needed. This, I believe, the SGC considered, given their own history of needing to rapidly adjust on the fly.

Rodney, as Chief Science Officer (CSO), would be the one to not only make these kinds of decisions, but also to listen to the head of the expedition as to what needed to be prioritized. As the show has demonstrated, there can be a significant amount of shuffling around of employees based on the needs of a minute, and hour, a week, a month - for an indefinite amount of time? Basics are what gets the job done.

So what things would Rodney need to consider, or be directed to consider by Elizabeth?

> Oh shit this can sink

 » Rodney's main work - keeping the ZPM working and get as many new ones as possible

> Oh shit everything's so far away

 » Rodney's other main work - making sure the gate works as ordered

> Oh shit we're in another galaxy

 » Food

  ⇛ Getting, keeping, preserving, maybe the occasional growing

 » Utilities

  ⇛ Luckily they don't have to pay for it lol

  ⇛ But also oh shit lighting, water, sewage, air filtration, general life support

   ⟹ Rodney's third main work

   ⟹ This poor guy

 » Medicine

  ⇛ Rodney delegates the hell out of this

  ⇛ Good luck making potions, guys!

 » Bullets

  ⇛ Also other things the military needs

  ⇛ Fun times re-inventing the wheel I mean gunpowder

  ⇛ Good work for bored soldiers, and possibly also any scientist Rodney puts in time-out

 » Clothes

  ⇛ Ha, thread

  ⇛ Also needles

  ⇛ Experiments in sewing machine making

   ⟹ Watch the fingers

  ⇛ How to replace fabric?

  ⇛ Off-duty clothes

  ⇛ Also medical clothing (scrubs for staff, patients)

 » Miscellaneous

  ⇛ Entertainment, I guess

Internal monologue included because I think it's funny.

Anyway.

While Rodney's spending his days with Benny Hill music playing in the background trying to get all of those priorities done on top of actually delegating work and doing whatever else Elizabeth (and John) want him to do, other people actually need to have some work to get done. So what are they doing?

It depends on who already does what, frankly. So in the above combined interests (amount of people that can fit through an intergalactic wormhole, competing IOA/SGC interests, realities of living in Atlantis), I'm proposing this set-up (commentary included):

Medical Sciences Department

Head: Carson Beckett (later, Jennifer Keller, later, whomever)

Contains: Surgery, psychiatry, physical therapy

Function: Maintaining health of expedition members

Examples of function: surgeries, medical prescriptions, recuperation from injuries, mental stability

Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 10 (surgical team) + 5 (nurses) + 1 (psych) + 1 (phys. therapy) + 1 (anesthesiologist) = 19 total

A/N: Nurses have training in medications and physical therapy, surgical team also doubles as general practitioners.

Life Sciences Department

Head: OC

Contains: Earth biologists, bio- & biochemical engineers, astro/xeno-biologists, botany, environmental chemistry, zoology, microbiology

Function: Auxiliary to Medical Department needs

Examples of function: pharmaceutical synthesis, analysis of unknown species, biological database creation, gene therapies (pharmaceutical adjacent)

Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 2 (Earth biologists) + 2 (bioE & biochemE) + 1 (astro/xenobio) + 1 (botany) + 1 (envchem) + 1 (zoo) + 2 (microbio) = 11

A/N: Both biologists also have training/specialization in genetics/gene mapping (assists both Carson and Katie), some input in requesting gate missions based on in-house needs.

Field Sciences Department

Head: OC

Contains: Linguistics, historical geography, cartography, ethnography, sociology, oceanography, hydrology, atmospheric physics, planetary physics

Function: Research pool for gate teams and any assigned missions

Examples of function: Preservation of refugee cultures, scouting for trade planets, analysis of back-up sites for establishment

Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 3 (linguistics) + 1 (histgeo) + 1 (cart) + 1 (ethno) + 1 (socio) + 1 (oceano) + 1 (hydro) + 1 (atmophys) + 1 (planphys) = 12

A/N: SGC duplicate all shoved into one department, mostly ignored in-house but their brains are picked for background dossiers when it comes to mission planning. Linguists trained in xenolinguistics, from the SGC, can cover the various anthro fields if necessary, also various training in structural linguistics. Main scientist pulls for gate team assignments, if something critical isn't needed (i.e. Ancient technology).

Applied Sciences Department

Head: Rodney McKay (or perhaps Radek Zelenka?)

Contains: Electrical/technical engineering, nuclear physics, civil engineering, astrophysics, laser/optical, chemical engineering

Function: Study, synthesis, and adaptations of Ancient technology

Examples of function: ZPM analysis with intent to duplicate, experimental duplications of Ancient technology materials, study of gate physics and construction with intent to duplicate, study and experimental duplication of other Ancient technologies (i.e. hyperdrives, cloaks, weapons, etc)

Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 3 (electreng) + 6 (techeng/gate techs) + 1 (nucphys) + 1 (astrophy) + 1 (LZ/opt) +  3 (chemeng) = 16

A/N: The people Rodney are yelling at most often, because mistakes mean kablooey. Also a lot of the people running around in an emergency. 1 nuclear physicist because Rodney pulls a lot of intellectual weight, and same with the astrophysicist and laser/optical person (mostly they're there as on-paper hires and back-ups/assistants for him for his own research).

Gate Technicians

Head: ??? Joint custody

Contains: Gate technicians

Functions: Auxiliary to Applied Sciences Department, interacts with the gate and the gate only

Examples of function: dialing, searching database for addresses, maintaining mission logs and planets visited, basic repair and maintenance of the gate, technical drawings as required by others

Personnel quantity: Chuck, idk +5 for full shift overlaps = 6 total (listed in Applied Sciences department as techeng/gate techs)

A/N: Technically nerds but are active duty, probably loans from SGC (maybe also Russia because of the DHD debacle?).

Gate technicians are, although folded into the Applied Sciences department, listed separately in order to better articulate their duties (and the fact that they get the green shirts). Shout-out to @spurious for enabling the idea that gate techs would do technical drawings 😁

Sum Total of Science Division Personnel

Medical: 19

Life Sciences: 11

Field Sciences: 12

Applied Sciences: 16

Total total: 19 + 11 + 12 + 16 = 58

This isn't anywhere close to my initial estimate of 150, but I think it adequately covers all the preconceived and actual responsibilities that the science division would need to handle in the expedition. Possibly I might update these numbers as I develop this headcanon further, but that would end up in a new post.

Further elaboration on headcanons about each department will be in their own posts, with links updated here as they're posted for ease of reference.

Science Department Breakdown Posts

Medical Department (posted 14 May 2024)

#stargate #stargate atlantis #atlantis expedition #sga fandom headcanon #mine #long post

[gatesnladders]

So here's a fun thing.

Did you know that Iratus bugs aren't insects? Also not bugs, except in colloquial use, because bugs are insects with piercing, sucking mouthparts. And while they have the mouthparts, they are not insects, so also not bugs.

See, insects specifically have six legs and antennae, as well as a body divided into three segments. Iratus bugs have the body, but no antennas and only two pairs of legs. Which makes them arthropods, but not insects.

Given their particular feeding habits and bite, I'd say they're probably a specialized chelicerate. As a sub- order of arthropods, chelicerates are signified by the moving mouthparts, the chelicerae, and tend to use enzymes for feeding, to turn their prey into slurry.

Given the Wraith enzyme being a feeding aid, it makes sense. At least somewhat.

This would make the Iratus bugs, and by association also the Wraith, closer related to spiders and horseshoe crabs than to insects.

Or, you know, the designers just messed up and didn't realise that their design wasn't an insect. Also entirely possible, given that the Iratus bugs do appear to have elytra, which are not present in chelicerates.

#stargate atlantis #sga #Iratus bugs #Ashkaztra overanalyzes #headcanon

[sparrowsarus]

Mclorne, punks

You got it, babe!

They meet at an anarchist show in a dingy, illegal club. Rodney's read all the theory, argued with Elizabeth about Proudhon and Bakunin, wrote papers on how Anarchism could influence the study of electromagnetism. He can argue theory all day.

He also likes the music, and makes his own eco-friendly, hypoallergenic glitter. Yes, the Sex Pistols are a manufactured boy band. No, he doesn't care. (He does think Freddy Mercury is more punk than Sid Vicious though)

Evan does not like the music, particularly (except The Clash), and he's iffy on the theory--but he is boots-on-the-ground, helping at every event, every protest, soothing conflicts and posting bail. Evan does the dishes.

They go dancing a lot. Because Evan's seen what happens when you start taking yourself too seriously, and egos become more important to the work. And you cannot take yourself too seriously when you are wearing smeared eyeliner and glitter made from kelp, grinding in a basement bar while a band plays this side of too loud. You just cannot. (Rodney never forgets why he fell in love with the stars.)

They don't stop being punks--they keep putting the work in, let homeless kids crash in their spare room, go to sit-ins and protests and the occasional riot--but they do slow down. Rodney gets a job at a university, rather than the government, and holds his tongue about Green Day; Evan never joins the army, but paints instead. He'll never make it big, and they'll never be rich, but they get by, more or less.

Thank you for the ask! I love my grubby little punk boys.

#SGA #headcanons

[riverageleis]

Headcanon: Rodney always has his tablet on his person because John likes to pick it up and try to figure out his unlock password to see what's on it. John assumes he has massive amounts of porn that he doesn't want to share. Rodney plays Neopets.

#stargate #john sheppard #stargate atlantis #sga #rodney mckay #McShep #headcanon #whats your most ridiculous headcanon

[orion-kenobi]

so rodney has anxiety right? they haven’t actually called it that but it’s pretty heavily implied that he does.

#i also think he might be autistic but that’s more of a headcanon #rodney mckay #stargate atlantis #star watches sga

[geekygumiho]

cam stepping between sam and rodney in s10 ep3 when rodney was about to comment on how sam was sexy and follow her when she walked away and giving rodney the “fucking say it” deadass look like- y’all know i’m a feminist!daniel stan but what about feminist!cameron mitchell LIKE—

daniel would probably take more bs to throw hands or rlly just give disrespecc backtalk in return when it comes to interacting with a misogynist (or at least, earlier seasons daniel would), but i feel like cam would just repeat their words back to them in a way that would make them look so fucking stupid like yknow that certified cameron mitchell sense of humor— like what was it he said in the prev episode, smth about joe and bob?? LMFAOO

reason number 2579 why i need to make a part 2 to the sg-1 they/them pronouns post and include cam at the top of the list bc this hilarious himbo is my KING and i would die for cameron “get the band back together” mitchell :’))

#part 2 is coming btw!! school started and i’ve had zero time to do stuff for fics and such bc life lmao #cameron mitchell #stargate #sam carter #samantha carter #rodney mckay #sga #stargate atlantis #stargate sg1 #sg1 #stargate headcanons #headcanons #sg1 headcanons

[lynnhf]

John Sheppard Sleeping Headcanons (SGA)

Stays up late at night before going to bed.

Tosses and turns during the night when trying to sleep.

Has a hard time sleeping. Either because of nightmares or because his guilt and regrets keep him up. “I should have done X instead of Y. If I did, “name” would still be alive.” Beats himself up over losing lives.

Light Sleeper. Due to always being on edge. Atlantis may need him or he doesn’t feel safe enough to sleep.

His bed must face the door at all times. 

Sleeps with a pistol under his pillow (only starting this tradition after being tortured/fed upon by Todd).

Nightmares. He’s been through a lot. Lost a lot of people, good men and women.

Wakes up early to run with Ronan (Canon).

Only truly rests when a deep, relaxing sleep takes over when he lets himself have a break.

#LynnHF #Lt. Colonel John Sheppard #Colonel Sheppard #Atlantis #Stargate Atlantis #Stargate #Sleeping #Sleeping Headcanons #John Sheppard #Sheppard #SGA #sga

[sqswisashitposter]

So, I have this wierd headcanon out of nowhere, that Rodney uses Dvorak layout (programmer one, may god forgive me) and doesn't bother changing keycaps, or even adding stickers. So everyone who tries to use his laptop just goes 'WTF' and never tries again. (Sheppard being the only one who knows obscure shortcut for switching to QWERTY)

Which makes me want to draw McShep version of xkcd issue 'Borrow Your Laptop'.

The fact that I can easily imagine Rodney casually mentioning scrolling through time instead of space may aslo have something to do with it...

#stargate #sga #stargate atlantis #rodney mckay #mcshep #headcanon

[the-mushroom-faerie]

sga headcanon time bc I can't sleep

Elizabeth does things differently. the sgc was, in a word, institutional. there were strict regulations that she very quickly realized would not work in the Pegasus galaxy. so she changed them slowly.

she noticed that most of the scientists would get caught up in what they were doing and work through their breaks and shift ends, so she set up intercom reminders for mealtimes and breaks. she heard some of the crew complaining about how uncomfortable the uniforms were, and frankly she didn't care much for them either, so she slowly made the rules more lax from letting people wear graphic tees under the jackets to comfortable shoes until eventually no one was wearing the uniforms. she allowed for adaptive reports, and recreational experiments, and sure why shouldn't the physicists turn that empty corridor into a bowling alley.

but, most importantly, she changed how they viewed her. with the SGC being a military operation, so many of her people worshipped at the alter of the chain of command. and you know what they say - it's lonely at the top. Elizabeth wanted them to treat her like an equal, a friend, one of them; to be able to come to her with anything. she wasn't some sovereign ruling over them from her glass office, she was a member of this expedition just like all of them. John, Rodney, Carson, and Teyla all treated her like a friend, and she loved that feeling so much she wanted the rest of them to treat her that way. and by making her office a safe place, it didn't take long for that to happen.

#stargate #stargate atlantis #sga headcanons #atlantis is a colony and colonies have different rules than 'the mainland' #i will die on the hill of atlantis being tight knit and relaxed and making up their own rulebook because the old rules dont work there

[sga-owns-my-soul]

i'm working on a fic about it rn but i'm really thinking about how fucking frantic rodney is during epiphany and i'm thinking about how it's only six episodes after trinity and only two episodes after aurora, and john has straight up said (multiple times!!) that he doesn't trust rodney

and i'm wondering how much of rodney's panic was directly related to that. how scared was he that john would assume it took so long because of rodney's incompetence and take this as more of a reason to not trust (and maybe even hate) rodney. being worried that john would be stuck living out the rest of his life thinking the worst of rodney

and sometimes i wonder if rodney let johns "lack of trust" get to him. if part of why he was so frantic was because rodney started doubting his own abilities. i mean he straight up says he should have noticed the camera being out of memory/battery, and he berates himself for not sending john a note

idk if this even makes sense but i'm just. having a lot of thoughts about epiphany and what it does to john and rodney's relationship and specifically their trust in each other

#i've been thinking about this for hours #and i'll probably be thinking about it for the rest of my day at work #like it's just #it's so good #it's so so good to think about #i love this concept #mcshep #john sheppard #rodney mckay #headcanons #sga #sga epiphany #stargate atlantis

[texasdreamer01]

Atlantis Expedition: Science Division Departments - Medical Department

Continuing from my starting post here, I'm now breaking things down by department, beginning with the Medical Department.

I did end up heavily revising this department after the commentary on the general departments post, and also after a lot of looking up of the actual divisions of medical specialties. So, first, the (new) numbers:

> Head: Carson Beckett (later, Jennifer Keller, later, whomever) > Contains: Surgery, psychiatry, physical therapy > Function: Maintaining health of expedition members > Examples of function: surgeries, medical prescriptions, recuperation from injuries, mental stability > Personnel quantity: 1 (Head) + 10 (surgical team) + 5 10 (nurses non-surgical team) + 1 (psych) + 1 (phys. therapy) + 1 (anesthesiologist) (grouped under non-surgical team) = 19 23 total > A/N: Nurses have training in medications and physical therapy, surgical team also doubles as general practitioners

Information carried over from the first post, with struck text indicating revisions. The new total is 23, and the author's note is now irrelevant in light of new information. Mostly.

After doubling the amount of nurses, realizing "nurse" is a very broad category of medical professional with multiple definitions and aspects of job duties in multiple countries, I did a bit of renaming of the teams within this department: surgical, non-surgical, and miscellaneous (sorry guys).

Something I had realized was that this was not going to be a typical medical department (duh, in hindsight). These people are all going through the SGC, and the SGC quite likely not already has their own training protocols in place for dealing with SGC-specific situations, but also adapted technology from Goa'uld tech. What is Goa'uld tech? Appropriated Ancient tech, but without the gene component - fascinating, but also a post for another time.

This did inform how I revised which personnel to include, their specialties, and their duties. You're not exactly going to be shoving a whole MRI machine through a gate, so a radiologist isn't going to be a necessary specialty. Because of this, there's going to be a lot more cross-training, and more of a focus that's similar to what Atlantis would actually operate as: a forward operating base.

So, on to the teams (commentary included).

Surgical Team

> Personnel quantity: 10 > Minimum education: Doctorate in Surgery (ChM) > All of these people are already trained in basic medical knowledge and practices, and also overall surgical practices in different areas of the body

Specialties

> Neurosurgery > Dentistry | Oral and maxillofacial surgery  » In the US, trained to do general anesthesia and deep sedation > Orthopedics  » Musculoskeletal > Trauma surgery  » Can contain combat surgeons  » 2x of these > OBGYN > Urology > Cardiothoracic  » 2x of these, by speciality:   ⇛ Cardiovascular surgeon    ⟹ "involving the heart and the great vessels"   ⇛ Thoracic surgeon    ⟹ involving the lungs, esophagus, thymus, etc. > Surgical technologist  » "In the military they perform the duties of both the circulator and the scrub."  » Creates and maintains a sterile surgical environment  » Anticipates the work a surgeon needs to do  » Walking compendium of surgical techniques and stitches

I had wavered a bit on qualifications, and thus who to include - at the end of the day, it was probably going to be on an American standard, given the physical location of SGC. This meant I got to do a nifty thing of having my oral/maxillofacial surgeon be the dentist that's also an anesthesiologist, even if this is apparently considered odd in many other countries.

Mostly I wanted to go by section of the body, and see what kind of specialties there were, and what did and did not overlap. Surprisingly, it was more difficult to figure out who did abdominal surgeries than it was neurosurgery or dental surgery, hence two people in cardiothoracic surgery and two "general" surgeons in the form of trauma surgery because, again, forward operating base - they have no idea what Atlantis will be, so some assumptions will need to be made and better to err on the side of caution.

In a more delicate but still very necessary subject, one OBGYN (obstetrics and gynecology) and one urologist (aka urinary system and male reproductive system). For various obvious reasons, everyone's health in this area still needs to be taken care of, so it's better to have them on the team than politely handwave the idea.

Neurosurgery, for an obvious reason - it's highly specialized and without significant overlap, while also being a critical function on a surgical team with the demands the Atlantis Expedition will likely face.

Orthopedics are musculoskeletal, or deals with muscles and the skeletal system. A fair amount of what they do has overlap (see: trauma surgeons), but having someone specialized for the particularities of setting bones and handling surgeries on things like the joints is incredibly useful when presuming setting up camp in an active combat zone (which they really, really did).

Trauma surgeons are, more or less, the ones that you would see in an emergency situation - acute situations and their injuries are their specialty, and for this expedition likely the head of the surgical team by dint of their training to assess a patient quickly and develop a care plan very quickly. Because of this, I found the overlap of combat surgeons immensely helpful, which means that there's a significant probability that this surgical team has military personnel assigned to it. These surgeons are also the ones most likely to be SGC-imported, and trained to deal with things like injuries from Goa'uld and Goa'uld devices.

All these very highly-trained people, who are all probably very, very smart - who supports them? As it turns out, at least in the operating theater, not the nurses, but surgical technologists.

Surgical technologists main job, at least here, would be to set up the operating theater and anticipate whatever it is a surgeon needs in assistance. This includes things like training on a wide variety of surgical techniques (i.e. stitches), disinfection procedures, and medications such as anesthesia (ish). I included the quote about military duties because it saves money on how many people to include in the expedition, and penny-pinching is the backbone of any hiring process.

Now, the surgical team is all done! That's ten people right there, and on to the non-surgical team.

Non-Surgical Team

> Personnel quantity: 10  » 5 Technicians/Nurses, 5 Non-Surgical Medical Specialists

Nurses

> (Advanced Practice) Nurses  » 5x of these  » Registered Nurse   ⇛ As the general minimum educational and experimental requirement  » Perioperative nursing   ⇛ Assists surgical team, helps with pre- and post-surgical patients  » Emergency nursing   ⇛ Can do triaging, suturing, casting/splinting, local/regional anesthesia, and other doctoral skills as needed   ⇛ Likely the SGC training model incorporates all of the above, and also training on medical technology adapted from Goa'uld healing technology (which is really Ancient but without the ATA gene lock)    ⟹ Radiology tech    ⟹ MRI tech (which is radiology but a bit to the left)    ⟹ Other adapted diagnostic equipment

Non-Surgical Medical Specialists

> Pathology  » 2x of these  » Coordinates with Life Science Department to develop diagnoses for novel diseases (in the Pegasus galaxy) > Internal medicine | Internists  » 2x of these > Anesthesiology  » For everything the OMS people don't do in terms of anesthesiology  » See also: Anesthesia (topic)

Remember how I said the qualifications were a doozy, and that nurses were a broad category? ... Yeah, this is why. The medical field is probably current in flux right now, given the shifting priorities of medical personnel and so much research that is still in the process of being applied, but I waved my magic plot-fixing wand and assumed the SGC figured this out for me.

All of these nurses are likely to be SGC imports, and thus unbelievably well-trained in everything that the SGC needs them to do. These are the personnel who know how all of the Goa'uld tech works on a functional level, have gotten the goodies first from engineering, and are waving their handheld MRI and other diagnostic equipment over their patients like a fairy godmother in scrubs. As with a real world hospital, these are the people actually running the show, and likely making the surgical team look like hypercompetent show poodles.

As for non-nurses who are also non-surgeons, pathologists are the ones who work up what people will actually be diagnosed with, figuring out all the newest and shiniest diseases and cataloguing them for reference. Doctor Biro is a pathologist, for example.

The thought occurred to me that we still need something resembling a general practitioner, but in light of fancy things like handheld MRIs and other scanners, this role is much reduced in favor of people who pack a greater intellectual punch.

However, I found that internists not only fill this gap, but are also hyper-specialized in their own way, in the respect of their knowledge base being internal diseases and multi-system diseases. Ergo, two of them, because they're just that useful. They'd probably coordinate quite a bit with cardiothoracic surgeons, as those are overlapping areas of study based on region of the body.

One (1) anesthesiologist, because the OMS cannot - nor should they - be the only person to perform anesthesia. This person functions as a sanity checker, and also the thin margin of the anesthesia that the surgeon doesn't cover.

We still need to round out this department, though. So far I've managed to cover in-patient, out-patient, and the various surgical stages. What else?

Well, recuperation - patients can't actually linger in the infirmary for the entirety of their healing process, for such practical reasons as beds available and boredom of patient, so the transitional phase needs to be covered.

Hence, the highly uncreative placeholder section name of Miscellaneous:

> Psychiatrist  » 1x of these, because canon says so? > Physical therapist  » 1x of these, because canon says so?

Now while personnel such as nurses and internists are meant to convey educational material and instructions to patients about recuperation, it helps to actually have specialists on hand to make the patients commit to the bit.

Having only one psychiatrist on hand seems a bit of a Star Trek logical fallacy, but I'm once again waving my plot wand and assuming anyone that managed to get through the arduous employment process of 1) being told the Stargate exists (and coping with their world views being upended), 2) being employed by the SGC in general, and 3) passes their psychological assessment is probably mentally stable enough to only need one psychiatrist for the entire expedition.

(Yes, this does mean everyone on the expedition got their rubber stamp of sanity, and probably in grueling triplicate. Such as it can be defined a fanfiction-like world of scifi. I think they're coping pretty well with everything, no?)

With all the work that the surgical and non-surgical teams put into taking care of injured expedition members, a physical therapist is, as with everyone else here, very good at their job, but ultimately one of the last steps for patients that require longer term care. Think gaining back muscle after a broken leg, or more serious injuries that require months of guided exercise to be back to gate team-ready health (or general running for your life because Atlantis is just as dangerous).

Total Medical Department Personnel

Head of Department: 1

Surgical Team: 10

Non-Surgical Team: 10

Miscellaneous: 2

Total total: 23

I'll be going over headcanons on canonical personnel, such as Carson Beckett, Jennifer Keller, and Biro in their own posts, but for now this is a general accounting of the expedition's medical department.

Shout-out to @savestave and @stinalotte for the discussion and feedback on the original post!

#stargate #stargate atlantis #atlantis expedition #sga fandom headcanon #mine #long post

[gatesnladders]

Apparently all my brain wants to do is draw lady Wraith at the moment.

I'm OK with this.

I have no idea what prompted this idea, but brain's gonna do what the brain's gonna do. Have a Snowdrop, wearing her Commander's shirt and not much else. I mean, she might be wearing socks or something. Possibly.

#stargate atlantis #sga #wraith #wraith queen #ashkaztra draws #I actually headcanon that Wraith are pretty blasé about nudity #when you're all telepathically connected and can read each other's minds nudity stops being a big deal #River Clan Wraith have slightly pointed ears #much like John Sheppard

[annwayne]

Stargate Atlantis HC: Fluff

I’m feeling down so here’s some fluff headcanons for Sga.

Movie Nights

While John’s movie nights started as a way to help Teyla and Ronon get all his earth pop culture references it’s now turned into a Very Serious Tradition™️. Attendance is mandatory.

Since they now have fairly easy access to earth they’ve stocked up on popcorn, all those little popcorn flavor shakers, and even dragged a giant beanbag through the stargates for their designated movie room.

Teyla likes horror movies. Especially the alien and predator franchises. When news of Prey coming out reached Atlantis she demanded their next movie night be it.

Ronon loves those big action tough guy/gal movies. John Wick, the Terminator, and Kill Bill are big favorites. But he’s not a snob about it, instead finding things to enjoy in most of the movies they all watch together.

Rodney obviously loves the traditional “nerd” stuff. Anything Trek, Star Wars, and LOTR. He also likes to find niche independent films that have similar aesthetics or story beats. He’s more of a snob about plot holes though. Once the team made the mistake of letting Rodney pause to explain something. An argument started. It lasted three hours. Rodney isn’t allowed to hold the remote anymore.

Similar to Rodney, John knows all the traditional nerd movies by heart, despite swearing up and down they aren’t his favorite movies. Which is likely true. John has seen the most movies out of everyone and is very well versed in pop culture. He likes discussing plot lines with Rodney, enjoying the cool fight scenes with Ronon, and talking about the way movies build suspense with Teyla. His favorite movie is likely something nostalgic.

Carson has a love hate relationship with medical dramas and zombie/plague type of films. If it’s Carson’s turn to watch a movie everyone plans for double the usual time. He pauses the movie to explain how wrong the procedures are or when equipment isn’t being used right. He’s scared of the zombie and mass outbreak movies, but loves to figure out the mystery cure along side the main characters in the movies. He screams a lot.

Elizabeth loves romance and drama’s. She’s a sucker for a tragedy and has made the team watch many recorded plays for her turn. But occasionally she’ll bring You’ve got Mail or 13 Going on 30 for a more lighthearted movie night.

Camping

Ronon has a hard time sleeping alone when he first joins the team. Years of being a Runner taught him to be a light sleeper and to notice any shift in the air around him. A busy city does not help that.

So Teyla suggests a communal sleeping area outside under the stars, a fairly common Athosian practice.

“You mean camping?” “If that is what you would call it, then yes.” “Sound like camping to me.”

At first it was just going to be Teyla, Ronon and John, but then Rodney heard about their plans and didn’t want to be left out of whatever scheming they would be doing. Elizabeth thought it would be a lovely idea, she camped occasionally back on earth. And Carson only goes because Rodney dragged him along.

But after having the best nights rest since leaving their homes, well everyone wanted to camp again.

So when the weather is just right everyone gathers at Teyla’s room and lays claim to spot on her balcony. 

Rodney and John talk about what to name constellations, even argue over what pictures they see in the sky.

Elizabeth enjoys the fresh air and salty breeze. She falls asleep first every time.

Teyla, Ronon, and Carson take turn telling campfire stories. Most of Carson’s are about earth folklore, stuff he grew up hearing from his mom. 

But it’s just a time to be together, to talk, and sleep knowing your family is right beside you.

Miscellaneous 

Zelenka, McKay, and Beckett keep a running tally of how often Weir tells military commanders off and an additional counter for when she told them something was a bad plan and she was right. 48 and 12 respectfully.

Teyla is the mom of the group- everyone knows this- And as being the mom if anyone gets overwhelmed they go to her for hugs.

But hugs from Ronon are the best. Teyla gives mom hugs that are comforting, but Ronon gives bear hugs that swallow you into nothing but his arms and chest. When one of the group gets a hug from Ronon they brag about it for days. Weeks, if it was Rodney.

Beach days do happen and they are glorious.

Once Todd starts to prove his trustworthiness and begins to feel something more than convivence for these weird humans (first contact and the lost tribe never happened don’t @ me), he joins the crew in their various traditions. His favorite movies are monster movies. 

Lorne and Zelenka become good friends. As much as he complains about it, Lorne loves to listen to Zelenka babble about science.

#stargate atlantis #sga #elizabeth weir #john sheppard #teyla emmagan #ronon dex #rodney mckay #radek zelenka #evan lorne #todd the wraith #fluff #sga headcanons #headcanons #sga fluff

[sparrowsarus]

Thought: Athosians, when they have a child, get a small tattoo after the birth. Because there is no guarantee that the child will survive: Pegasus is dangerous, childbirth is dangerous--but you do not love your children less, even if you know you might lose them.

A little tattoo, just over your heart--for the child you have now, whatever happens after.

#SGA #headcanons